Haas Supplemental Application Guidelines
Below are the application, resume, essay, and video essay guidelines if you are applying for Fall 2024 transfer to Haas.
Haas Supplemental Application – Annotated Instructions
The Haas Undergraduate Program has a distinct culture and we seek applicants who represent the school’s four Defining Leadership Principles: Question the Status Quo, Confidence without Attitude, Students Always, and Beyond Yourself. As such, please thoughtfully consider these principles as you apply to our program. Contemplate their meaning as an expected part of your life long connection to the Haas School of Business [emphasis added].
The bolded section above is relevant to how you should compose your essay and put together your resume.
During the application review process you may be contacted by the Haas Undergraduate Program if additional information is needed or if information submitted in your application requires clarification. We will contact you via email to submit additional documentation or to schedule a time to speak with you. The goal of the follow-up process is to ensure we have all appropriate and relevant information prior to making the admission decision.
Haas began verifying information submitted by some applicants a few years ago (the verification appears random). I would expect the process to be similar this year.
The supplemental application includes the self-reported academic record, resume, and essay. Students will also have the option to upload a video interview. Interview questions will be included with the supplemental application. Uploading the video interview is mandatory. All application components must be completed and submitted by 11:59 pm PST on January 31, 2024; failure to submit all components by the deadline will result in a denial of admission. Please note once you have submitted the form, you cannot make edits.
Make sure to allocate enough time to complete every part of the supplemental application well. Do NOT wait until the last minute to submit the supplemental application. Back in 2016, MAP@Berkeley closed at 9 PM PST on January 31 (I’m guessing the clock wasn’t set to the right time zone) and set off a wave of panic (the campus later extended the deadline to February 3, 2016). Trust me, your life will be better WITHOUT the hysteria that comes with something like that.
IMPORTANT – Changes to your class schedule after January 31st: If you would like to report updated grades or make any changes to your 2024 Winter and/or Spring class schedule after January 31, 2024 you must notify the Haas Undergraduate Program using the Haas Transfer Update Form. Before making schedule changes, please review the minimum eligibility requirements for transfer applicants. All admission requirements must be completed by the end of the Spring 2024 term. We cannot guarantee that changes made after January 31, 2024 will be considered.
There is another set of instructions at the very end of the application form (after the video essay section) that explains how schedule/grade updates or corrections that occur after January 31, 2024 should be submitted.
Haas Resume – Annotated Instructions
The Haas admission committee has access to your UC application and will use the information included in the Activities & Awards section to evaluate your accomplishments outside of coursework. The Haas resume below gives you the opportunity to expand on entries included in the UC application or include new activities you engaged in after the November 30th UC deadline. If you do not have additional activities or information to provide, simply click the box at the beginning of each section to indicate you do not have anything to report. Leaving the Haas resume blank will not impact your admission decision as the committee will refer to the entries included in the UC application.
Although Haas will consider the activities listed in the UC Application if you leave the resume blank, I don’t recommend doing that since the resume offers quite a bit more room for you to elaborate on your “contributions and accomplishments” and gives you an opportunity to add new activities, as well as articulate how your activities are relevant to your aspirations to attend Haas and/or your ability to contribute to Haas as a student there (things that were not likely conveyed by how you described the activities in the UC Application).
In past instructions, Haas emphasized leadership (business or non-business) and ability to engage the community. When completing the resume, be strategic in how you select the activities (since there are only four categories and a limit of four activities per category). Focus on the ones where you have the strongest leadership roles, the most accomplishments, and/or the longest involvement or time commitment.
Make sure you only include activities that you participated in AFTER high school graduation (starting before high school graduation is ok as long as you continued after high school graduation, but leave out activities that ended by the time you graduated high school). This used to be part of the instructions but it may have been removed because it was too confusing (ok in one instance but not ok in another).
Keep in mind that more recent activities will be more relevant to your immediate ability to succeed at Haas (so if you graduated high school 10 years ago, try to focus on activities within the last few years; of course, there are always exceptions, such as military service that may have helped you build character that would benefit you for life).
Haas Resume – Guidelines
You’ll see that the activity description field for most categories says “Description of contributions and accomplishments,” and that is precisely how you should describe your activities. Don’t get caught up on “responsibilities” (what is expected of you for your position); instead, focus on what you have done above and beyond what is expected of you (values and/or improvements you brought to the organization and/or its members). For leadership roles, emphasize progression of responsibilities (such as advancements/promotions) and achievements.
Haas Essay – Annotated Instructions
The essays are the principal means we have of gaining insight about each applicant and their interests and reasons for applying to the Haas Undergraduate Program. The Haas essay question was created to provoke honest, thoughtful responses to help us get to know you. In addition to content, essays are evaluated for critical thinking and writing ability, skill in organizing and presenting thoughts and the relevance of your answer to the question posed [emphasis added].
These instructions, combined with the general instructions, dictate what your essay needs to accomplish: be well written, explain why you want to study at Haas, showcase who you are and the value you bring as a student to Haas, demonstrate your understanding of the Haas Defining Leadership Principles, and address how you intend to embrace those Defining Leadership Principles throughout your time at Haas and beyond.
All applicants are required to respond to the following essay prompt:
Describe your post-undergraduate goals. Why is a business degree essential in helping you achieve these goals?
Your response is limited to 350 words. To avoid a session timeout, we recommend you compose your essay in a word processor using its word count feature then cut and paste your essay in this space.
Remember that you need to frame why you want to study at Haas, who you are and the value you bring as a student to Haas, your understanding of the Haas Defining Leadership Principles, and how you intend to embrace those Defining Leadership Principles throughout your time at Haas and beyond within the essay, IN ADDITION to answering the essay prompt.
Haas Essay – Guidelines
This is a straightforward “tell us how your goals align with ours” question (how your vision of your future align with Haas Defining Leadership Principles). I have developed a guideline to help you figure out how to cover the numerous pieces of information you need to include within the framework of the prompt, which is explained in my Haas Essay and Video Interview Guidelines ($199; remain on the payment page after you pay and you will be redirected to the download page – please note, purchase of a digital product is NONREFUNDABLE).
Haas Video Essay – Annotated Instructions
Thank you for applying to the University of California, Berkeley and the Berkeley Haas School of Business. As part of the admissions review process, you are invited to record a video essay so that we may learn more about you. Before beginning your video response, you will need to confirm your identity by showing a picture ID. Please have an appropriate ID (driver’s license, school ID, or passport ID) available at the start of the video essay. The names from your ID and application should match. You will have 90 seconds to prepare an answer and a total of 5 minutes to record a response. You will also be provided with 3 total attempts to re-record and delete your response.
The link to record and submit your video is listed on your application checklist in your MAP@Berkeley portal.
Make sure you have your ID ready. Every year I hear about students who forgot to show their ID when recording the video essay. Since the overall application instructions referred to this as the “interview,” I would expect the video essay to be a rebranding of the interview process, which Haas has previously utilized.
Haas Video Essay – Guidelines
I would recommend preparing for the video essay in the same way you would prepare for the interview.
I have developed a guide on preparing for the Haas interview that includes everything you need to know to impress the Haas admission officers, from how to dress to how to arrange your interview setting, plus a list of old interview questions and tricks to help you prepare and deliver a great interview. The guide is included with my Haas Essay and Video Interview Guidelines ($199; remain on the payment page after you pay and you will be redirected to the download page – please note, purchase of a digital product is NONREFUNDABLE).
Know someone who can benefit from this information? Share the page with family and friends using a button below!
Help support this blog by making a contribution by credit card (processed through Stripe) or through Zelle (to ) today! Any amount is greatly appreciated!
